Apoorva Lakhia’s horrific experience at Mumbai malls

If you’ve wondered why Mumbai is becoming shooting-hostile and why filmmakers prefer to shoot away from the city, here’s an answer.

Shooting at public places in Mumbai is getting prohibitive to the extreme. This, Apoorva Lakhia discovered when he needed to shoot Hide ‘N’ Seek in a shopping mall in Mumbai.

“I was told the rental charge at a city mall would be Rs 2.5 lakhs per hour! It was more economical for me to shoot in Bangkok’s Sony Mall. It’s quite understandable why more and more units are shooting away from Mumbai.”

Apoorva finally shot in a mall in Ahmedabad. “We had to shoot for 21 days and we were given permission to shoot from 11 pm to 6 am. And thereafter in the basement for a couple of hours every day…all this, mind you, for Rs 50,000 per day. Compared to this throwaway rate (which I got partly because the mall is owned by a friend of mine), the Rs. 2.5 lakhs per hour that I was asked to cough up in the Mumbai mall is a joke.”

Lakhia feels Mumbai needs to get realistic about shooting rates in public places.